Christine Szpytma MBACP, Couns.Dip.

About me

Are you feeling low, anxious, overwhelmed, lost or stuck? I can help you manage distressing emotions and negative thoughts. Sometimes these feelings can feel too much to cope with on your own.

Triggers can be:

Relationship diffficulties

Family issues

Work problems

Health worries

Lack of self esteem and confidence

Traumatic life events

You might feel anxiety, depression, panic, lethargy or stress. Very often this can feel overwhelming and you can easily get stuck not knowing how to make things better for yourself.

I can help you discover what is going on and how to improve things. I am an empathetic, professional and effective counsellor. I can assist you to understand the source of your distress and together we can identify strategies to improve your well-being.

Couples Counselling

As couple you may be facing lots of conflict between you or you may feel very distant and that you are growing apart. Issues might be infidelity, lack of trust, poor communication, different goals and values, lack of intimacy or family and parenting issues. Without any blame, I can support both of you to understand your relationship and then work together with you, towards your goals.

How Counselling Works

I offer a warm, compassionate, insightful and non judgemental service where you will have the space and time that you need for yourself/yourselves. I'll work with you to build up trust and rapport between us, so that you can feel comfortable in exploring what is painful for you. I'll then be able to tailor my counselling approach to your needs, whether that is using techniques to counter negative thoughts or patterns of behaviour (such as CBT), or a deeper psycho-dynamic exploration of the difficulties you are facing. We work at your pace, and I'll be able to offer a facilitating perspective, that will help you grow and change.

I know that finding a counsellor can be daunting. I want to reassure you that I appreciate this and I will do all I can, to make it feel less so. Please do contact me to find out more and book a first session.

Training, qualifications & experience

I use an integrative approach, which means that I draw from a number of counselling models, including psychodynamic, attachment based, humanistic and cognitive behavioural therapy. I tailor my approach to your needs and I offer both short and longer term work.

I have undertaken comprehensive training and gained my Counselling Diploma from the respected Minster Centre in London. I have also undertaken training at Tavistock Relationships, a renowned centre which specialises in couple counselling. As an experienced counsellor I have successfully worked with clients on issues of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, bereavement, relationship difficulties, trauma, addiction, work problems, sexuality and identity, culture, and discrimination. With couples I have worked with issues such as infidelity, lack of communication, conflict, and family matters.

I also have a previous history of working in the social sector. I have worked as a manager in large organisations, and have a good understanding of workplace issues that can have a negative effect, such as work/life balance, stress, bullying, restructures and redundancies.